“In general, the myths and fallacies about the prophetic and spiritual gifts were created by caring church leaders in reaction to the mistakes of the spiritually immature. Recognizing this, we should understand that these teachings were noble attempts to bring correction in specific, localized situations. While they may have accomplished that purpose, their enduring legacy is that they have kept multitudes from experiencing and walking in the spiritual gifts God has provided for the church.”  - Steve Thomspon, You May All Prophesy, p 16.

It’s in light of continuing debate a few people in my life engage me in both in person, and in email/MSN conversations that I use this entry to hash out my own thoughts in a manner that I can refer people to this post later instead of having fruitless debate with people that don’t want to let go of their biases or straw-man arguments against the charismatic gifts. This is going to serve for me as a reference point with my thoughts.

So, I really recommend the book “You May All Prophesy” by Steve Thompson. I own several books on the prophetic, all from different angles and with different spins on the subject, and it has dawned on me that it’s a pretty inexhaustible topic in the Bible and spiritual life. Most people’s aversion to the prophetic, the gifts of the Spirit, and baptism in the Spirit, as well as praying in tongues are ALL based on misunderstanding or sometimes willful rejection. This book by Steve Thompson in particular is relatively user-friendly, and in my opinion, if people were to only read one or two books on the subject, then this one should be it.

With the backdrop of sharing some insights from this particular book on the topic of prophesying, I’d like to take the time to quote pretty heavily from one of the earlier chapters, called “Prophetic Myths and Fallacies” and though I may not “quote” directly, I want to say at the outset, I’m relying heavily on this chapter of the book for this post, so in that manner I want to give credit where credit is due.  In a sense, you could call this a book review but focusing on one specific chapter for your benefit.

The five myths he lists are the following, and I will not give equal attention to all of them, but just the ones I feel will diffuse some tired old straw-man arguments that get used on me time and time again–or at least try to provide answers to.  I post this here just in case it bears fruit for someone’s questions and understanding.

Myth #1 “We don’t need the gifts of the Spirit; what we really need is the fruit of the Spirit!”
Myth #2 “Seek the Giver, not the gifts.”
Myth #3 “Seeking spiritual gifts is selfish.”
Myth #4 “Asking for spiritual gifts opens us up to demonic deception.”
Myth #5 “Only a special few people are called to prophesy.“

For the purposes of this particular entry, I will omit myth # 4, and maybe deal with it on its own at a later date in a separate entry, with more of my own experience and not so much quoting from the book, other than using Scripture references Steve Thompson uses there.

Myth #1 “We don’t need the gifts of the Spirit; what we really need is the fruit of the Spirit!“

This may sound balanced, but it’s Biblically inaccurate. While seeking spiritual gifts without cultivating spiritual fruit is an error, we should never attempt to correct it by denigrating the importance of spiritual gifts. This teaching also belies a subtle form of pride that implies we do not need spiritual gifts. When we understand that spiritual gifts are empowerments provided by God to manifest His kingdom, our attitude toward them will change. No longer will they be seen as optional. Words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and discerning of spirits are gifts in the same way that guns, ammunition, and grenades are gifts for a soldier.

At the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes a statement in 1 Cor 4-7 that shows he understood the importance of spiritual gifts in his ministry; he said his testimony was proven to the Corinthians by the fact they were functioning in the spiritual gifts. Paul further goes on to say in this letter that his testimony concerning Christ was with power and demonstration and not [just] words of human wisdom (1 Cor 2:1-5). Also, Acts 17:22-18:1 could be used also to demonstrate how Paul had limited results when he preached in Athens using only his intellect and ability to reason, but I won’t be dogmatic about that suggestion.

Myth #2 “Seek the Giver, not the gifts.”

While this makes for a great sermon, it is also biblically inaccurate. In a sense, if we reject the gifts God has for us, we are in some ways rejecting Him, since He has given spiritual gifts because they are a manifestation of Himself in our midst, and for witness to a dying world around us.

We must understand, the Corinthians were already functioning in the gifts when Paul made this statement to them, but they were abusing the gifts, speaking out of order, and so on. To bring balance, Paul–a mature man of God (and apostle, of course!) offered instruction about the gifts, and wisdom for their use. But he never instructs them not to seek the gifts, nor criticizes them for being too focused on spiritual gifts, but the exact opposite and urges them to earnestly covet them. The same Greek word translated “earnestly covet” can be translated “zealously lust.”

Then, immediately following, in the ‘love chapter’, Paul proceeds to launch into a profound discourse on the proper motivation and manner in which the gifts are to be used, which is love. When reading this book of the Bible, the point is not to overemphasize chapters 12 and 14 at the exclusion of chapter 13, nor is it to read chapter 13 but shut one’s brain off when reading chapters 12 and 14 which give clear teaching on tongues, congregational tongues with interpretation, and prophesying corporately in particular–they all are a part of the same package.

Paul is imploring them to operate in the gifts out of a heart of love for one another. In fact, Thompson goes on to compare the type of “zealous lusting” we are to have over the gifts, with Jacob’s attitude for his blessing, deceiving his own family to get it! This kind of reasoning is offensive to our senses, but God *loves* that type of heart–the one that hungers for His presence and hungers at all costs. “Jacob I have loved”. But anyway, that’s bit of a detour from where I’m going with this.
“While we may judge those who hunger for God’s power and authority as being extreme and unbalanced, God may be more pleased with them than those who appear humanly righteous, but who, like Esau, are unconcerned with spiritual matters.” (p.21) Keep in mind, Scripture also says God hated Esau.

Myth #3: “Seeking spiritual gifts is selfish.”

This is similar to the ‘seek the Giver not the gifts‘ myth. While it’s true that some will have questionable motives, God will ultimately deal with character issues as He sees fit, but this concept is still Biblically inaccurate since spiritual enablements are given IN ORDER to minister to others. Serving others is not selfish. Just because it’s possible to desire to minister with a heart full of mixed motives, doesn’t mean we are to not bother seeking ways to minister to others. Has anyone reading this ever been used of God even though you have or had issues to deal with?

That’s what I thought.

Think of Paul’s response in Philippians 1:15, 17-18 when talking of people ministering with questionable motives–he didn’t react to the fact people were preaching the Gospel out of selfish ambition–he rejoiced that the Gospel was getting preached! Again, Paul never discouraged anyone from seeking the gifts, and so neither should we. Let God deal with people and their bad motives.

Myth #5: “Only a few special people are called to prophesy.“

Again, I love my evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ of other expressions of faith, but I do not understand the mental and hermeneutical acrobats required to arrive at some conclusions, such as that statement, or how I’ve heard it said to me Paul means something else other than what he says in the last verse of the chapter before “The Love Chapter“, and the first verse of the one after it. And, later on in chapter 14:31, Paul addresses this so clearly, I still don’t get for the life in me how people ignore his words: “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be encouraged.”

If you ask me (or read this blog), that one verse settles the issue!

A good definition for prophecy in its most basic form, is “hearing what God is saying to or about someone and relaying it to them”. Fair enough? If all believers can hear God speak, then all can prophesy. If you are born again, you can do this. It is not some gift God delegates to a few as if the enablements of the Spirit are given out randomly and arbitrarily to whoever He feels like and we’re “stuck with whatever He gave us”. There are a couple of things (among others) that any believer can do: Lay hands on the sick and see them healed without “having a gift of healing” in order to do so–this is something several Scriptures command all believers to do. And the second is prophesying as we’ve just briefly skimmed on.

Important to note

If you go on reading the chapter, Steve shares how Proverbs 14:4 says “where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox.” Meaning, yes, there will be messes, there will be mistakes. People will think they are hearing God’s voice and speak inaccurately into peoples lives. This is why we’re told to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), and judge what people say when only two or three in a meeting say anything (1 Cor 14:29)–because there is potential for it NOT to be really from God. I’ve spoken presumptuously before, and had it done to me. 1 Corinthians 14:30 and 32 says “If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent…and the spirits of the prophets are subject to [the control of] the prophets.“

The more we practice hearing God’s voice clearly and drowning out the dope and distractions of this world, the more efficient we will get at operating in our prophetic giftings. In fact, nobody ever did their first act of ministry perfectly. Look at Jesus’ disciples. Look at the life of Samson and see how God used someone while totally in sin (NOTE: I’m NOT advocating living an impure sinful lifestyle and lacking repentance and holiness–I AM saying you can’t wait until you’re perfect before deciding you think God can use you! Big difference).

If you’d like to buy You May All Prophesy, consider clicking here to purchase it from Amazon.

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